Picture The Past: Leighton in the 60s

Published:11:00Thursday 04 December 2014

This is a picture of the former LBO office in Leighton Buzzard High Street rescued from a glass slide. The Civic Trust took pictures of every property on both sides of the High Street in order to record them but the negatives began to degrade and have been digitised in order to try and preserve the image.

The picture of the now demolished building is believed to have been taken around 1960.

The offices at 5 High Street feature in a cine film made at the same time, which is being shown this week. The film is of a staged dramatic fire rescue by the Leighton Buzzard brigade that has the staff of the Observer dashing to the scene and making the story the paper’s front-page lead.

The film is one of four short films of Leighton and Linslade being shown on December 10 at the Linslade Community Hall.

The films include a fishing match on the canal, the Linslade horticultural show of the time, a pram race, and the sand industry at work.

The main feature of the fire brigade swinging into action and saving a boy with a turntable ladder shows how Leighton looked in the 1960s.

The meeting starts at 8pm. Members of the Leighton Buzzard and District Archaeological and Historical Society free, non-members £3.